Paranoid Personality Disorder Checklist
This is a checklist to help one understand Paranoid Personality Disorder. One may use it to self-diagnose or as a worksheet to present to a doctor or therapist or other medical professional and better communicate symptoms they are experiencing. All information is taken from the DSM-5.
Section I Must check TWO or more of the following:
- I have cognition problems and difficulty perceiving myself, other people, and events.
- I have affectivity problems and difficulty controlling the range and intensity of my emotional responses.
- I have problems with interpersonal functioning and being aware of my own actions and feelings.
- I have difficulty controlling my impulses.
__ / 4
Section II Must check FOUR or more of the following:
- I constantly feel like others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving me, despite having no basis for feeling this way.
- I am preoccupied with doubts I have about the loyalty and trustworthiness of my friends and peers.
- I am reluctant to confide in others because I fear the information I share will be used against me.
- I tend to read hidden demeaning and threatening meanings in the things people say and do.
- I am unforgiving and hold grudges for an incredibly long time.
- I often perceive things as attacks against me, and I can get incredibly defensive and will react angrily and prepare for a counterattack, even though no one else sees how I’m being attacked.
- I have recurrent suspicions, without any evidence or reason, that my partner is cheating on me. (OP’s note: I feel this is exclusive of people with PPD who aren’t in relationships or are aromantic, so I would also include other forms of betrayal in other kinds of relationships.)
__ / 7
Section III Must check ALL of the following:
- My symptoms impair my personality and social functioning
- My symptoms are consistent across a broad range of personal and social situations.
- My symptoms have lasted a while and started in early adulthood or earlier.
- My symptoms are not caused by medication, drug use, or another medical condition.
Section IV Common symptoms ad behaviors (not required for diagnosis):
- I feel as if everyone has an ulterior motive.
- I am constantly looking for evidence that my loved ones are conspiring against me or otherwise trying to hurt me. (An example would be persistently questioning them.)
- I am usually shocked when a friend is nice to me or expresses loyalty.
- I often interpret honest mistakes as violent acts against me.
- I misinterpret compliments a lot and view them as underhanded attacks.
- I tend to view offers of help as criticism that I’m not doing good enough.
- I am quick to anger and quick to be defensive.
- When looking for evidence of mistreatment against me, I tend to use examples such as body language or exchanged looks; things most people wouldn’t even notice.
- I am a very guarded person.
- I try really hard to be in control of what’s going on around me in order to feel safe.
- Sometimes, I blame others for my shortcomings, because I feel as if they are somehow involved.
- I have fantasies about being in a position of power where no one is able to hurt me.
- I tend to develop negative stereotypes of others, and I may put others into boxes and assign labels to them.
- I experience psychotic episodes.
- I have difficulty accepting criticism.
__ / 15
If you did not meet the minimum requirement, you may want to look into other disorders on the schizophrenia spectrum, as well as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and anxiety disorders. If you met the criteria for Sections I and III, you may want to look into other personality disorders.
